Rail-anchor



H H. sPo'NENauRG. RAIL ANCHOR.

0N FILED OCT. 3,1919.

Patented Aug. 24, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

Patented'Aug. 24, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET-Z.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HIRAM H. SPONNBURG, 0F GURNEE, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY IVIESNEASSIGNMENTS,

i Y i TO OTTO R. BARNETT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAIL-incirca Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug, 24, 1920,

Application filed October 3, 1919. Serial No. 328,254.

To all whom t may concern.' l

Be it known that I, HIRAM I-l. SroNnN- BURG, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Gurnee, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-Anchors, ofwhich theI following is a specification.

My invention relates to a rail anchor device for resisting the tendencyof railroad rails to creep longitudinally .and has for its primaryobject to provide a novel one-piece anchor device which will maintain arm grip on the rail, which may be readily applied to rails having baseflanges of diEerent widths or contours, and which may be manufactured ata minimum cost.

' A more specific object of theinvention is to provide a novel one-piecedevicewhich may be made from a at strip of spring metal by bending oneend of theJ str ip to form a loop which will yield to permit theapplication of the device to rails having base angesof different widths,the loop being formedso as to provide anoverhang which extends. over theupper edge of the base. flange in a manner to'hold the body of. thedevice firmly. against the under surface of the rail base.

.The invention has for further objects such other normal constructionrelating to def vicesof the above character aswill be hereinafterdescribed and claimed for accomplishing the above mentioned objects andsuch other incidental objects as may be seen from the followingspecification.

The invention is. illustrated in certain ing drawings, wherein.-

Figure 1 is a'plan view of a device conf structed in accordance `with myinvention applied to thebase vflange of a railroad rail; Fig. 2 is a`view in perspective yof the rail anchor device;

Fig. 3 is a front view lof tbeidevice shown in Fig. 1 illustrating themanner in which the device is applied to the base flange of a rail;

Figj is a view similar lto Fig. 1 illustratingla modified form of thedevice;

`Fig. 5 is a view in perspective showing the device illustrated in Fig.1, applied tn the base flange of a rail in its operative position; and vf Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken on line 6 6 of Fig. 4l.

Like characters of reference designate like parts in the several figuresof the drawings.`

Referringfirst to Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive of the drawings; 10 designatesa railroad rail and 11 one of the cross ties on which the rail issupported. The rail anchor shown in these figures is preferably made upfrom a piece of flat spring metal by bending one end of the metal blankupwardly and inwardly to provide a jaw 12 having a lip 13 which fitsover one edge ofthe rail base. The other end of the blank is bentupwardly from the body portion to form a loop 14C, the downwardlyextending portion 15 of which is adapted to bear-against the oppositeedge of the rail base when the device is in operative position. Thelower edge of the free endof the' loop 111 is preferably cut away so asto provide a relatively narrow tongue 16 which extends through anopening 17 f in the body 18 of the blank. The end of this lip is thenbent upwardly against the under surface of the body as shown at 19. Thedevice is formed with a downwardly `extending flange 20 adjacent theloop 14e which bears against the tie. The jaw end 12 of the devicepreferably stands a short distance away from the tie so as to permit aslight skewing action of the device, for example, to permit the jaw end12 to move toward the tie, when the rail creeps longitudinally in adirection toward the tie. rlhe `front edge of the free endr15 of theloopglL' and the rear edge of the jaw 12 are given a slight set inwardlyto provide knifeedges2122 respectively, which will take a biting ,holdon the rail to increase its grip thereon. rljhese knife-edges willautomatically t'ake a; biting hold on the rail when the anchor is skewedby the longitudinal movement of the rail or they'may, if desired, beembeddedl into the edge of the rail base when the device is applied.

' The distance between the jaw 12 and inner face 15 of the loop 14 isnormally less than the width of the rail base to which the device isintended to be applied so that the loop portion will be strained whenthe device is applied to the rail. lhen the device is in its operativeposition, the inner face oil the loop 14; constitutes a rail baseengaging jaw. This portion of the loop being strained in application ofthe device to the rail stands at an angle with relation to the verticaledges of the rail base so as to provide an overhang which extends overthe upper edge or' the rail base. The spring pressure ont this portionot the loop exerted against the edge of the rail, in addition toproviding a firm frictional grip oit the device on the base, adapted toresist the creeping pressure of the rail, also holds the body portion ofthe device up against the under surface of the rail base and minimizesthe rocking action of the anchor. Such rocking action often results fromthe corner of the tie being rounded so that the tie abutting flange doesnot properly engage the tie, that is, for example, as when the loweredge only or the said flange bears against the tie. lhen applying thedevice to a rail, the aw 12 is litted over one edge of the base .flangeand the other end of the device is forced on to the opposite edge of therail, the device being made of spring metal will l'lex to substantiallythe position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, during the application orcthe device. A crow-bar or other suitable device may then be positionedunder the loop end of the anchor and this end raised to the full lineposition. Then raising the anchor the free end 15 of the loop will yieldto permit the loop to spring over the edge of the rail base as shown infull lines.

1n Figs. 4, 5 and G I have shown a modiiication in which the loop end:25 of the anchor instead of being bent upwardly from the body 26 asshown in the preceding iigures is bent downwardly as indicated at 27 sothat the lower portion of the loop will bear against the tie. The freeend 2S or' the loop frictionally engages the edge of the rail base andtaires a biting hold thereon in the same manner as the form of anchorshown in Figs. 1V to 3 inclusive. .Vith the construction shown in thismodification it is possible to dispense` with the customary downwardlybent flange providing the Atie abutment. rlhe modified construction isotherwise substantially the same as that disclosed in the previousfigures and has been given corresponding reference characters.

1 claim:

1. A rail anchor comprising a rail base embracing member formed at oneend with a aw for engaging one edge oi" the rail base and at the otherend with upwardly ex` tending loop providing a aw for engaging theopposite edge of the rail base; said loop being adapted to yield topermit the application of the device to the rail and exerts a springpressure against the vertical edge of the rail when the device isapplied to its operative position.

2. A rail anchor comprising a rail base embracing member formed at oneend with a jaw for engaging one edge of the rail base and at the otherend with an upwardly extending loop providing a jaw for engaging theopposite edge ofthe rail' base; said" loop being strained during'theapplication of the device to the rail so as to exert a spring pressureagainst the vertical edge of the rail base and projects over the upperedge of the rail base when the device is in its applied position.

3. A rail anchor comprising a rail base embracing member formed at oneend withY a jaw for engaging one edge of the rail base, an upwardlyextending loop providing a jaw for engaging the opposite edge of thebase, and a tie abutting vllange; said loop being adapted to yield topermit the application of the device to the rail and exerts a springpressure against the. vertical edge of the rail whenin its operativeposition.

l. A rail anchor comprising a rail base embracing member formed atoneend with a jaw which fits over one edge of the rail base and at theother end with a loop, the free end of which Yextends downwardly andengages the vertical surface of the opposite edge of the rail .base withspring pressure; the said loop being adapted to yield toV permit theapplication of the device to therail and normally projects over the edgeof the rail base to maintain the device in its applied position.V

5. A rail anchor comprising a rail base embracing member formed at oneend with a jaw which fits over one edge of the rail base and normallystands out of contact withthe tie and is formed at the other end with aloop the free end of which extends downwardly and engages the verticalsurface of the opposite edge of the rail base with spring pressure; thesaid loop being adapted to yieldyto permit the application of the deviceto the rail and normally pr0- jects over theedge of the rail base tomaintain the device in its applied position;

6. A rail anchor made from'a flat piece of spring metal, the ilatside ofwhich bears against the under surface of the rail base, formedkat oneend with a jaw which engages one edge of the rail base and at the otherwith a loop which engages the opposite edge of the rail base andnormally overhangs the edge with which it engages; the body of saidanchor being `formedv with'a slot-and the lower portion of the free` endof said loop being formed with a foot which extends through said slotand engages the under surface of said body.`

7. A rail anchor comprising a rail base embracing member formed at oneend with a jaw which fits over one edge of the rail base and at theother end Ywith a loop the free end of which extends downwardly andengages the vertical surface of the opposite edge oi the rail; thedevice being formed with a ltie abutting foot adjacent one end thereofso that the creeping pressure of the rail will tend to skew the anchorto increase its grip on the rail.

8. A rail anchor comprising a rail base embracing member formed at oneend with a jaw which fits over one edge of the rail base and at theother end with a loop the free end of which extends downwardly andengages the vertical surface of the opposite edge of the rail; the edgesof said loop and jaw being formed with proj ectionsv adapted to beembedded in the rail base.

9. A rail anchor comprising a rail base embracing member formed at oneend with a jaw which its over one edge of the rail base and at the otherend with a loop the free end of which extends downwardly and engages theVertical surface of the opposite edge of the rail; the device beingformed with a tie abutting foot adjacent one end thereof so that thecreeping pressure of the rail will tend to skew the anchor to increaseits grip on the rail and the edges of the said jaw and free end of saidloop being formed with sharp edges adapted to take a biting hold on therail.`

HIRAM H. SPONENBURG.

